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Day early or on the Big Day

codyboy

By codyboy,
in Cruise Air

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codyboy

codyboy

Posted
Posted

Hello I am wondering if sound dumb or not that we may just go from Milwaukee, Wi to LA in August 2010 to go on Marienr of the Seas instead of taking off a day early to LA. We thought try to take early flight to LA on Sunday instead leaving on saturdy. What are your thoughts in August month.:rolleyes::)

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Gardyloo Excellent Advice! Rare

Gardyloo

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Hello I am wondering if sound dumb or not that we may just go from Milwaukee, Wi to LA in August 2010 to go on Marienr of the Seas instead of taking off a day early to LA. We thought try to take early flight to LA on Sunday instead leaving on saturdy. What are your thoughts in August month.:rolleyes::)
Scenario...

 

Milwaukee to Chicago - delayed due to thunderstorms at ORD. Flight to LAX is delayed 3 hours. Headwinds cause normal flight time to be increased by 45 min. Traffic on the 405 is heavy (the norm.)

 

So, in the words of Dirty Harry, do you feel lucky? Well, do you?

 

And if you miss the boat, how's your Spanish?

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

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Whenever possible, one should arrive at the city of departure for a cruise at least one day early. One never knows what travel delays could occur that would prevent a timely arrival at the port. For an August sailing, summer storms have been known to delay air traffic at major hubs, just as an example.

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55J5-5

55J5-5

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Not to mention if your luggage isn't on the same flight as you and arrives a day later. Then you never get it till end of cruise. We always try to arrive at least 1 to 2 days before. It extends your vacation too!! :D

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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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I highly recommend arriving a day early before your cruise. There are too many things that can go wrong if you try to fly in the day of the cruise. This includes delays or flight cancellations that will cause you to miss the ship. What can cause this?

 

Aircraft Mechanical Issues

Weather

Insufficient Flight Personnel including Flight Attendants

FAA Problems

Airport Security breaches

Airline Computer Issues

 

And I am sure we can add more to the list.

 

Arrive a day early and enjoy the time before the cruise.

 

Keith

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Loreto

Loreto

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Fly in a day early! We decided to fly to Rome on embarkation day for our Noordam cruise in June. We used FF miles with Delta, and it was a last minute trip and no flights offered ff seats the day before. Our flight from Atlanta to Rome was cancelled due to mechanical difficuties. We learned it had also been cancelled the day before, unfortunately. The ship sailed while we were in our hotel in Atlanta.

 

We flew out the next day...on a brand new Airbus....luggage was never loaded on the plane....we took the Eurostar train from Rome to Livorno, Italy. Made the ship with 5 hours to spare. Our luggage arrived 4 days in to the cruise...some people never got theirs.

 

We loved the cruise, but it was very stressful. We actually made a profit: insurance settled our claim. Delta gave us each $200 travel vouchers and 25,000 miles. I got to shop for clothes on the French Riviera. The train ride was wonderful. I would have gladly have given it all up to be on the ship when it sailed!

 

Anything can happen. Planes are full and flights are fewer. It's not worth the stress.

 

Karen

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codyboy

codyboy

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THanks you guys I twisted our arms and guess will have to do day before. I know mother nature can be a be fool and nothing is guarantee anyway. Will have to start looking around soon Again thanks for all your responds. :)

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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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THanks you guys I twisted our arms and guess will have to do day before. I know mother nature can be a be fool and nothing is guarantee anyway. Will have to start looking around soon Again thanks for all your responds. :)

 

Good decision and it really is more than mother nature.

 

Enjoy the cruise.

 

Keith

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SelectSys

SelectSys

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Fly in a day early! ... Our flight from Atlanta to Rome was cancelled due to mechanical difficuties. We learned it had also been cancelled the day before, unfortunately. The ship sailed while we were in our hotel in Atlanta.

...

We loved the cruise, but it was very stressful. ...I would have gladly have given it all up to be on the ship when it sailed!

 

Anything can happen. Planes are full and flights are fewer. It's not worth the stress.

 

We missed the ship this way and had to play catch up for a few days. While we had some good experiences during our unplanned adventure, I do agree with the increased stress levels trying to catch up with the ship as well as in our case, extra expense.

 

How many times have you gone to the airport and then not gotten to where you were going on the same day? Even if you are heavily heavily delayed, planning to get there early the morning of will be FINE!!!

 

The one time I tried to go on the same day - actually a red-eye leaving the night before - we missed the boat due to a mechanical issue with our aircraft and the airport curfew where I live.

 

I would think very carefully before attempting to fly on the same day. My conditions would be:

 

1) planned landing time 5+ hours before departure

2) major presence of the airline including maintenance staff at my departure airport

3) non-stop or direct flight

4) no airport curfews within 3-4 hours of departure

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kenish

kenish

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Think this through! :) Simply getting to the destination the same day won't cut it for most cruise passengers. Assume OP's ship sails at 4pm (not sure when it really does but that's typical). Their nonstop flight must be "wheels up " by 1pm MKE time or there is no way they will make the ship. The only nonstops are on Midwest and Airtran, who have no later flight that will get them there on time. Other airlines have connecting flights but by the time one of the nonstops goes sour any connecting flight will get to the LA area (any airport) too late for the ship.

 

As others point out, everyone's risk thermostat is set differently. The bare facts are if OP has a nonstop flight that is cancelled or seriously delayed they will miss the ship. The risk is actually lower on connecting flights but there is still very little "wiggle room" since a lot of time is consumed by connect time.

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codyboy

codyboy

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OKOK my friends here you will worked hard to convince us so much and really hard to say no now. You all did a great awsome job. Now since we are in depressing day with Ted Kenndy being buried we are looking for hotel something to bright our minds for the moment

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steve20832

steve20832

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I just flew to Florida 2 weeks ago and had a connecting flight. (Not for a cruise.) My first plane left 40 minutes late due to bad weather at the city the first plane came from. This left me 15 minutes to change planes at a hub city (Northwest - Detroit.) I had 3 things in my favor. First, I was in row 8 so I was able to get off the plane fast, I only had a carry-on with me, and my connecting gate was only 6 gates down. (Northwest has 78 gates at DTW.) Yes, I made it as the last couple people were boarding. But if this plane was 20 or 30 gates down, I could have easily missed the plane and would have had to spend the night in Detroit because it was the last flight out. I consider myself very luckily. I'm sure if I had checked luggage it would have missed the connection.

Bottom line is fly in a day early and spend the night in a hotel and sleep in on cruise day so you won't be in a rush on departure day.

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jayscore

jayscore

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Long story short; 9:30 AM flight from MSP to MIA. Flight delayed 2 1/2 hours. Boarded ship at 3:45 PM. (Consider, you aren't allowed to board ship this late any more.)

Never again!

We now fly in the day before, non-stop.(Less chance to lose your luggage!)

It's so nice to be one of the first on the Lido deck, having lunch, and that first drink!;)

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